Of Lightning, Flesh, and Swords (C)
by Apocalyptian Scribe
Summary: In one universe, Cole Macgrath, Demon of Empire city, activates the RFI ending the lives of all conduits on Earth. In another universe, Alex Mercer saves New York city from a nuclear payload. In their last moments, both heroes are sent on a one-way trip to another universe. What fate lies before our two heroes and what is this shadowy figure that is tracking them?
1. The Start of Something Epic

**Fate is a fickle thing as are the men within them**

**Some men force their fate watching as they themselves turn into unimaginable shapes**

**Some men battle their fate only to watch themselves burned in its wrath**

**But those that accept their destiny go beyond what they think possible**

**And perhaps more**

* * *

**Of Lightning, Flesh, and Swords**

An Infamous and Prototype crossover set in the Claymore Universe

Prologue

* * *

In the tales of old, it could be said that the aspect of fire represented both the proud heritage and the vilified evils of humanity. Fire gave mankind the strength to grow beyond their infantile mortal coils to transcend their physical limitations.

But here, in New Marais, the only aspect of fire that could be seen here was its penchant for absolute devastation. The city could do nothing but watch as more and more of itself propagated the very fire that consumed its very existence. The sky was filled with ashy brimstone and dense smog turning the once blue sky into a sickening orange. The citizens, however, were far more occupied with something else.

Out in the streets, the sounds of explosions and the ominous bellows flushed the citizens out of their homes. Off in the distance, the Beast moved ever closer towards the Cole Macgrath's position atop St. Ignatius. The Beast was a gargantuan human figure made of fiery ash and darkened stone that stood taller than even the Cathedral in New Marais. With every footstep, shockwaves echoed out into the streets and sent up blasts of air taking with it anything loose enough to fly upward.

Cole was taking the time to catch his breath on top of the St. Ignatius. In front of him, the RFI was charging up for the last time while the looming figure of the beast walked ever closer. As he pulled the RFI out, he felt the energy of device start to empower him, telling him that it was finally ready to fire.

"Zeke," Cole said out loud, "It's fully charged!"

"Go on man," Zeke responded solemnly, ". . . push the button,"

Cole looked down towards the RFI, ready to fire it off, when suddenly the thumps of loud footsteps alerted him to the Beast's presence. Taking a second to glance up, Cole felt himself grow ever more powerful as anger surged through him. The RFI, feeling Cole's anger suddenly gave him energy giving the prime conduit a sense of empowerment.

"No," Cole said shaking his head, "No not just yet,"

With that he ran towards the edge of the roof and let off a wave of energy from his hands that propelled him forward towards the beast. He yelled in anger, all in the hopes that his anger would fuel him further and help him fight the beast. As Cole got close enough, the Beast's residual energies held the conduit aloft as Cole started to fire off large swarms of explosive blasts. The blasts ripped the already damaged being further and caused him to roar. As more shots hit, the beast fell forward. The Beast was finally on its knees.

John White's large body fell as it was wracked with explosions and electrical shockwaves. His body fell into a defeated kneel and as he looked towards Cole, Cole simply looked back at the giant almost to tell off the beast. The tall fiery monster had only been stopped temporarily, but the ferocious beat down that Cole had given gave him a satisfying feeling, the feeling of victory.

As he looked at the beast, Cole Macgrath stood, finally taking out the RFI. The RFI or Ray Field Inhibitor as it was called, was designed to cure the plague that was spreading across the eastern coast and to completely destroy the beast. Of course, there was an added side effect, the real reason why the RFI worked against the beast.

'_So this is it I guess. I'm gonna die._'

When the RFI went off, he would be killed. The first time he tried to fire it, he could barely keep himself up. This time, Cole was determined to use it quickly and end it instantly.

_*COUGH COUGH*_

Cole turned to see Kuo coughing and rushed towards her. He held her in his arms and she cried as she coughed. Kuo had always been the driving force of goodness that Cole had always turned to. In these trying times, however, Kuo had turned to help the beast. She couldn't accept death like Cole could, but Cole could sympathize with the icy woman. Why should they have had to sacrificed their lives? Why should they have been killed off, the ones that did good, and everyone else had to be saved? Kuo couldn't answer this and turned to the beast, but Cole still knew what had to be done.

Kuo only started her journey three weeks ago, when she picked Cole up at Empire City. She thought she could handle what it meant to be a hero . . . not realizing that sacrifices had to be made. Cole, on the other hand, perhaps had the most experience in that field.

As he comforted Kuo, who proceeded to cry in his arms, Cole took the time to think back. He thought back to a time where he didn't worry about sacrifice. He thought back to a time when he wouldn't have to worry about life or death. He even though back to Trish, back to when she told him she loved him, to where she thought he had betrayed her, to when she came back to him, and, finally, to when she died.

Cole knew what it meant to sacrifice.

"It's ok" Cole reassured Kuo.

"It's not ok." Kuo spit back in between her sobs, "You made the right choice. Hell Nix even made the right choice."

Nix had been a fiery hot conduit that always tried to seduce Cole into going at things her way. If there were people that were protesting about Cole, she would always tell him to attack them. If there was someone with a blast core, she would tell him to steal it from them. He would always tell her no and she would always question why they would have to serve the weak and why they had to fight for their pleasure and not her and his own pleasure. He always told her the same thing.

In the end, she understood it and showed her resolve by sacrificing herself to slow the beast for a few precious seconds and in those precious seconds he had been able to get the RFI away from the giant.

". . .I was— I am scared. . ." Kuo continued. Her eyes were red with tears, tears that were now flowing down her face and freezing from her icy cold skin.

"I know" Cole spoke. Kuo looked down ashamed for fighting against Cole.

"Do it," she whimpered

He moved away from her icy body as he stood straight. He spared a look at the kneeling fiery beast's body and shifted his sight back to Kuo. She coughed as he took out the RFI again and prepared himself for the pain.

He felt the energy being drained from his own body. His flesh felt weak as the device beeped in glory. For a moment the world around him felt silent as he let himself go. The moment passed and the energy racked his body as a beam of light flew into the sky. The energy penetrated the atmosphere and was sent out in a wave of energy that reached every conduit in the world killing them.

One by one the corrupted in New Marias dropped dead in the blast's wake. Vermakk 88 agents dropped like flies as the ice caused by their carnage melted with them. The plague went with them as families flocked to their previously thought to be dead members and the sounds of rejoice echoed throughout the city. The sounds of celebrations could be heard throughout the city just for being alive, but one man didn't say a sound.

He ran towards the origin of the blast and found the two dead bodies of the conduits John White and Lucy Kuo. Cole was nowhere to be found. A fear struck him that hit him hard, that his friend would go down as an unsung hero. But here in New Marias, they knew what he had done. The Demon of Empire City had finally become the Patron Saint of New Marias.

However, his story would not end here.

It had only just begun.

* * *

"You're definitely not what I expected," said a hooded figure as the platform he stood on rose up. A small growl aimed toward him answered back and gave a punch that sent him flying upwards.

The punch dazed the figure, leaving him in a light-headed state until he flew into helicopter. The copter exploded in a fiery ball of death, subsequently forcing the other planes and metal flyers around it to explode as well.

As the fires fueled themselves, a creature kept its watchful eye over the burning landscape, looking out for the prey that he had so easily punched away. This creature was a supreme hunter, a twisted visage of a human that stood nearly 10 feet tall with a face that appeared to have been melted away on one side. Overall, the humanoid's muscular figure was disgusting sight to behold, but even it was still far less scary than . . . him.

Within a flash, the monster felt its flesh tear as huge spikes shot out from the ground. The pain of torn flesh quickly subsided as did the spikes when the monster's regeneration kicked in. Muscles and sinew wove themselves together as the monster looked back towards the hooded figure, the real monster.

Alex Mercer they called him usually pairing it up with the words terrorist or bioweapon. To those in Blackwatch, they called him Zeus, their biggest and perhaps the last accident they would have. Alex was, in all intents and purposes, simply a human shaped mass of organic matter that could regenerate, transform, and, the most dangerous trait of all, think. If Alex was there, blood usually followed in his footsteps and to him, this would be the same.

"That hurt . . . you ugly freak," he spit out with a glare. Upon closer inspection, Alex's arms were now clawed hands with sharp blades on each finger. While he only used his claws against large numbers of weaker enemies like human infantry, he still felt satisfied that his spikes had hit their mark and decided to change their form. Fleshy appendages quickly surrounded and spun around his claws as they morphed into large and heavy mounds of flesh. When the Hammerfists finally finished morphing, Alex got down to his knees from the sudden weight change, but quickly got up and smashed the two bulky arms together.

The gesture registered as a challenge aimed directly at the Supreme hunter and, with a roar, the monstrous humanoid gathered his bearings as he prepared himself. Alex looked on with strange fascination, but his expression quickly changed into utter horror as the Supreme hunter opened up with a tendril barrage devastator. Tendrils flew out, skewering everything around the Supreme Hunter, some even managing to reach Alex's position. He dodged the clumsily aimed tendrils as he smirked with a sort of sick glee. As the tendrils pulled back, Alex prepared himself as he gathered most of his biomass into his arm and started to drag it.

A split second later, Alex flung his arm towards the Hunter and smashing it into the ground more. Blood and sweat was pouring from the monstrosity as it roared, but it was quickly silenced by a few more smashes to the face. The hunter retaliated back with a swipe of his arm, but Alex had already backed off with his now Whipfist and sent the bladed tendril flying into the monster's gut. The tore through the monster's stomach area, but quickly regenerated to the weak attack as the monster rushed towards him.

For several minutes, the Supreme Hunter fought a losing battle as he flung powerful, yet uncoordinated attacks that missed. In truth, the large bulky body of the Supreme Hunter could not hope to keep up with Alex's agility and, by the time the monster got to its knees, it regeneration was starting to slow as well as it attacks.

"Well, wasn't that arrogant of you," Alex mocked the hunter's bloody form, "I've already kicked your ass freak so screw off." His right arm changed as the tendrils on this body twisted it into a huge curved blade that could slice the armor off of tanks. As he closed the distance, Alex jumped up from under his neck and sliced the Supreme hunter's head off.

"Grow that back"

He landed, still watching the creature turn into a lump of dead twisting flesh. It gurgled as the blood gushed out from its large open wounds and slumped chest down onto the ground. Alex now had other matters at hand.

He ran towards the lowered deck and went straight towards the nuke. From the looks of it, he still a couple minutes before it detonated. He gave himself a small smirk; the Supreme Hunter had barely given him any trouble. He grabbed the nuke as gently as any superhuman monster could and placed it on the platform. When it reached the top, he was greeted by several soldiers foolishly pointing guns at him.

"You know that I got a nuke right here?" Alex smugly stated.

The soldiers looked at each other as held their guns and their ground.

"I suggest you get out of my way before I have to make you move," he said as he hefted the large nuke. Upon hearing this all of the soldiers bolted as fast as they could.

Nukes tended to usually do that.

Alex calmly walked towards one of the helicopters and quickly got to work. After attaching the nuke to the helicopter, he started up the engines. The soldiers watched in awe how fast he had worked and by then, most had started to evacuate the aircraft carrier. After about a minute of working, the craft lifted itself up into the air and, when it finally rose high enough, the nuke swung along under the Copter's belly.

As the virus flew over the darkened water, thoughts ran around through his head, all of which gave him an uneasy feeling. The viral outbreak that made him was started by the real Alex Mercer. Alex was a sociopath willing to infect an entire city for survival. Of course, what eventually happened led to his creation. The old Alex died at Penn Station and was reborn as Zeus.

As him

So what was he? Was he the sociopathic Alex Mercer just waiting to show his true colors over time . . . or was he something else?

There some certainties, however. He knew what he could do, what he could achieve. He was a virus that ate people. There was no doubt about it. More and more as the thought the various faces of those he consumed welled up inside him and started to spill out. He could feel their fears, the wants, their loved ones, and their deaths, but that wasn't what disturbed him. What really bothered the virus was again, who he was as a person.

Could he really go back to humanity at this point?

Thoughts like these and more slowly swirled to a stop as he finally found the helicopter at a safe distance away from the city. With the press of a button, Alex detached the bomb, sending it into the water, and the copter turned away as the bomb sunk into the depths. He pushed down on the helicopter's controls, accelerating it away from the soon to be explosion.

And then, it went off.

Most humans would have panicked in Alex's position, but this wasn't something he hadn't accounted for. In order for the bomb to be at a safe distance from the city, the bomb would have to be placed while he was still in the blast.

And he really didn't care.

"Bring it," he said as the blast tore through the helicopter, burning him alive in a vortex of nuclear energy.

* * *

In a distant twisted realm of absolute darkness, some . . . thing sat on his knees as it looked down.

Its eyes glinted as its mouth morphed into a sadistic grin.

"Finally," he said with a twisted glee, "New toys to play with."

* * *

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	2. Rough Landings

_**. . .**_

_**Vi'en Tro Va Ish' Tan**_

_**Death is only the Beginning**_

_**Trie Va' Ish Ta Vion**_

_**And Life shall begin Anew**_

_**. . .**_

* * *

On the distant shores of rolling sand dunes, a woman clad in a white uniform and silver armor stood staring off into the stars as she rested around a fire. The sky was a clear black mass littered with stars that night and it came to be a calming presence for the female warrior. Her nights, like this one, usually involved more . . . red tinges of color and it was a relief to see that her world did not adopt the same red color of the blood that stain the very ground she slaughtered upon.

She lied flat on her back as the crackling fires warmed her body and lit up the surrounding sands. Off in the distance, she could see the desert sands change into a richer earthen soil. The thick forest land seemed like a large contrast compared to the dry dead sand she rested upon. Before she could continue in her thoughts, she noticed movement in the forest and recognized the figure that emerged from its dark shadows.

"Rubel," she said to the tall thin man, "I take it that you have another assignment for me."

The man only responded with a smile to the warrior in front of him, his black hat, sunglasses, and suit hiding most of his features. If there was one word to describe Rubel, it would have to be creepy, but even that didn't encompass the entirety of this enigma.

"As eager as always Claire," he responded keeping his smiling façade, "I found the Yoma you killed back there. So bloodthirsty,"

She didn't respond to his comment, letting the silence answer for her. Rubel gave an uncaring shrug as he continued on speaking.

"And, yes, there was another request. It's nothing big, really, just one Yoma maybe two over at that town down south."

"Then I shall depart tomorrow morning," she said sitting down, her form meditating in a relaxed sitting position. Rubel aimed another smirk in her direction and left.

Once the man in black left, her gaze shot towards the sky, hoping to find some solace in the stars. The sky was quiet that night and the emptiness gave nothing but peaceful clarity.

And then she saw the sky

And two small stars falling towards the earth.

* * *

**Of Lightning, Flesh, and Swords **

Chapter 1: Rough Landings

* * *

The clear night sky was a silent black mass littered with stars. Overall, while the humans in Pieta looked up not understanding the true nature of the black sea in the sky, in the back of some, there were those that looked up to see something else. Perhaps it was their religious fervor speaking to their souls or their imagination instilling a sense of awe. Whatever it was, they knew that there was something out there and this night would only help to stir others into this as well.

As said before, the night was fairly calm and empty. Not a cloud in the sky hid Pieta from the gaze of the ever present moon. However, something else had now appeared in the sky.

Two shooting stars swam through the seamless mass of darkness and stars. One star was a mass of blue and few said that they swore that they could hear a whisper of hope in these troubled times. The other falling object was a mass of dark red and some spoke of its dark tidings for the future. To all the men and women watching the small colored blips in the sky, the stars looked like tears from the heavens that fell upon the earth. Those with fervent belief in their gods, took it upon themselves to pray and other simply gave a short glance, showing slight interest and immediately going back to work or getting ready to sleep.

What no one knew, however, was that these two stars were not just simply passing by, no, they were, in fact, falling from the sky and that's what they did. The two colored masses flew down, landing in a clearing of trees and grass. As soon as they reached the ground, the sheer force of their landing eviscerated the grassy field that cushioned their fall. Interestingly, their landing yielded no flames or heat and thus the rest of the forest was left unharmed.

The blue mass of light faded slowly, first losing its glow from a brilliant blue and then quickly forming into a man dressed in a white and light grey shirt with track pants. The blue light flowed from him as he started to get up, groaning as he felt the pain coursing through his body.

"Agghh, damn it," his somewhat gruff voice said noting the pain.

His memories had left him, everything was unclear and painful. Suddenly a shock of electricity reminded Cole of what had transpired before.

'_Wait, I'm supposed to be dead._'

He looked around and took in his environment. He was in a crater that reminded him of the ray sphere blast he was in, only this crater was much smaller. There were trees he could clearly see and wildlife that he could barely hear. This definitely wasn't heaven . . .was it?

Cause if it did, this heaven was absolute shit.

"Where the hell am I?" He grumbled.

The aches were starting to leave him as he walked out of the crater and the soft ground squished with each step. He sent out a Radar pulse, trying to find something or someone that would tell him where he was. For some strange reason, he felt no signals, no forms of electrical machinations of technology scattered about. Granted, he wasn't that surprised, with him being in the forest and all, but something was amiss. Usually when there was no electrical energy that he could find to sustain himself, his vision would feel fuzzy and things would start to confusingly blur around him.

And yet now, the forest environment around him was as clear as the night sky. It confused him and in another vain attempt he sent out another pulse. This time there was a source of energy, but it didn't originate from a technological source. To his surprise, when Cole looked towards the only source of electricity left he only found another crater next to him. This crater glowed dark red and, as he stared at it, Cole could feel a presence start to stir. The glow slowly dissipated as he soon found himself staring at the a glob of flesh.

Cole, instinctively moved closer to the glob of flesh, watching the thing's movements as it undulated forward and back. To the conduit's shock, he could see the thing start to take shape into something and, as it continued, the flesh turned into the figure of a man.

As the man stood up, Cole noticed as the being's skin turned into a partially buttoned-up white shirt, a plain gray hoodie, and a black leather jacket with a red tribal design on his back layer by layer. On his lower body, on the other hand, the legs turned into a plain blue pair of jeans and, on the creature's feet, black shoes morphed themselves over.

The thing about learning to live through nuclear explosions is the fact that no one really expects to survive, so when Alex's consciousness started coming back to his body, he felt shock and pain course through his body. He shouted in reflex as he felt the needles of a thousand burns and the radiation of a nuclear explosion start to violently tear apart his DNA. And then, the feelings vanished as his body's hyper regeneration and adaptability kicked in.

Cole standing on the outer rim of the crater stepped back from the figure as a shout as well as the violent aura of a bestial creature came towards Cole. Almost instantly, he pulled out his amp, not giving a thought to it's unusually light weight. Cole sudden action alerted Alex and soon he jumped out of the crater away from Cole's presence.

The two looked directly at each other, not giving each other an inch of ground as they both gave each other glares. As Alex looked at Cole, Alex found himself staring at the conduit with different vision types. As he observed the man, Alex could only feel surprised as he found himself staring at something he had never seen.

Cole was looking back at him with the exact same idea. Cole had retained his ability to observe a person's body's innards. The beast had given it to him so that he could find those that were infected by the plague that racked New Marias.

"Who the hell are you?" Alex growled.

"I could say the same for you," Cole retorted.

Silence filled the air and tension rose between between the super-powered beings. This time, Cole was the one to make the first move.

"Where the hell are your organs?"

Alex gaze narrowed as his mouth curled into a snarl, "What?"

"I can see through your body a bit. I'm not a doctor, but I can tell that you aren't human, are you," Cole clarified.

"Well, genius, of course I'm not human. I'm god damn Alex Mercer," Alex responded, expecting a reaction. To the virus' surprise, all he received was a raised eyebrow and a look of confusion.

"Um, ok, how the hell's your name related to anything."

Alex jumped towards Cole and the Conduit soon found himself face to face with the hooded virus.

"It's got everything to do with me, but last I checked it was your damn turn. The fuck are you?"

Cole stood firm where he was unyielding. "I'm Cole Macgrath, asshole and I don't take kindly to whiny bitches,"

Alex's arms sliced the air as he came down upon the conduit, but, to Alex and Cole's surprise, the conduit dodged the now-formed claw. Cole found himself staring at the virus, but quickly gathered his bearings.

"Well, that's new," Cole said as he charged up a bolt of electricity.

Cole put his right arm up in front of himself and Alex soon found lines of electricity flowing from the conduit's arms. His arms lite up blue from the electrical light show and shots fired, quickly flying towards Alex. He barely moved around the blobs of high powered energy and as the shots hit a nearby tree, leaving scorch marks.

"Yea, no kidding freak," Alex snapped, quickly changing his hands back to normal.

Cole gave a smirk putting away his amp and his arm, "Really don't think you got space to call me freak, . . . asshole."

Alex snickered, "Alright then, I'm gonna assume that you don't know me or anything that's happened at New York,"

"And I'm going to guess your not from New Marais,"

They simply stood giving each other cautious looks. One couldn't be too careful when staring down a fellow superhuman.

"So," Cole finally said breaking the silence, "How'd you get your powers,"

"I died,"

"Oh, that sounds nice,"

Alex shrugged, "And you?"

"I almost died, in an explosion of energy,"

"Ahh,"

"Uh huh, see what I did there," Cole said with a smirk.

"Yea," Alex responded, finally taking the time to check his surroundings, "Where the hell are we,"

Cole walked towards a tree, still keeping an eye on Alex, "You tell me. Last I checked, I was supposed to still be back in New Marais, sacrificing my life to save people from an all consuming disease,"

"Hmm," Alex said, noticing their similarities, "Same here, I was sacrificing my life to stop a nuke from going off in New York,"

"And now we're here,"

"Yup,"

Alex and Cole just stared down towards their craters. Everything was so confusing and it wasn't just the fact that had no idea where they were. Cole remembered how his body was ripped atom by atom as the core of his soul tore itself from the inside out. Alex pondered fondly feeling the fury of the nuclear explosion kill him. Both Alex and Cole knew they should have died.

So why weren't they dead.

Cole gave a smile, "Well, if I have no idea where we are and you have no idea where we are, then we should do something about it."

Alex sighed, "Ok then, what are you suggesting then,"

"Well," Cole said scratching his head, "We could-"

Cole stopped suddenly sending out a radar pulse while Alex giving the man a glance. Quickly realizing what was happening, Alex himself scoured his surroundings with his heat vision. The two men got into a defensive stance with Cole arming himself with his amp while Alex changed his arm's form with a large curved blade.

The tree shifted as leaves fell and silent footsteps moved around in the undergrowth.

Alex spoke out first to the hunters.

"Get your ass out here now."

The leaves shifted as the voice traveled through the air.

"Don't bother hiding. We know you're there," Cole shouted

Soon the hiding figures in the bushes and trees leaped out revealing themselves as disturbing humanoid nude monsters. While not as disgusting as the infected or mutated as the corrupted, the monsters' faces made the virus and the conduit cringe in disgust. The monsters looked fairly human-like, but the features looked like perverted

"On second thought, you guys can go back." Cole remarked

"Shut up," Alex said as he readied himself for a fight, to which Cole gave a look of annoyance.

"Excuse me?"

"You're not deaf. You've heard what I said,"

"Really don't think this is the time for negative feedback, bud,"

Alex finally turned, fed up with Cole's comments, "Just shut up and focus,"

The creatures snarled and one of them, to the surprise of the two individuals, spoke up.

"**Shut up humans. We've been dying to eat some guts and we don't want talkative prey.**"

Alex and Cole gave the creatures a look, but it was Alex that ultimately answered for the two, "You talk . . . huh, You'll make a nice meal."

"Dude," Cole said giving the virus a weird look, "gross,"

All eight creatures rushed towards them as the two combatants moved up to face their opponents. Cole found himself dodging extending fingers as he reached his first monster to bash. The amp swung down and hit the creature square in the head, sending it face first to the ground. Before it could hit the ground, the creature's head found itself in contact with the amp again. The amp lopped its head off easily as Cole found himself in surprise.

"Damn, did I do that?"

He turned and saw that Alex had quickly dispatched with one of the creatures as well, but in a much bloodier fashion. The claws were obviously built to cut flesh and it certainly proved to be effective as Alex ripped through the creature's body like butter. Cole was a bit grossed out but didn't continue his thoughts on the matter, mostly because he was being attacked by the other three on him.

Cole quickly spun to dodge all 30 fingers and dashed towards his next victim. This one had seen the previous attack's effects and so he quickly dodged the blow only to find himself being blasted in the air by a shockwave that hit another one of his fellow monsters. They started to float down slowly when they found themselves both being stuck with glowing orbs. The orbs exploded and blew up the creatures in a shower of guts and gore, which sickened and shocked Cole.

"Holy damn, when the hell did my grenades get that powerful?"

Alex was getting frustrated with his three as these creatures started to learn to avoid the extremely sharp claws. However, they weren't as fast as he was. As the one of the turned to dodge his attack, the claw changed into a blade and soon Alex shifted his momentum to slice the body in half. The other two were stunned for a bit and attacked him, hoping to hit his back. All twenty fingers found their mark and they shouted with glee.

"**Ha, ha, that's right human. You're all so pitiful to think that you can stop—**"

It never got to finish that sentence as it found itself with a face full of a hammerfist as well as body full and stomach full of said fist. The creature was smashed into a bloody pool of flesh and guts with only its extended fingers remaining. The last one turned to run hoping to get away from the monstrosity that totally butchered his companions, but found himself being tugged by Alex's whipfist.

"You all talk way too much,"

Alex smashed the creature into the ground as he started to punch it brutally to death. The creature screeched in pain only to be consumed by Alex and replaced with Alex's own shout of pain. He fell to his knees as memories traveled through his brain.

Cole heard Alex and shouted back to him. "Hey, what wrong. You ok?"

"Y**ou need to focus on your opponent stupid human rather than your dead friend.**"

The creature stabbed its hand into the ground as Cole turned around. He felt the presence of the fingers rushing towards him but it was too late. The five fingers pierced his heart, guts, and stomach. He cringed a bit for the initial pain and then he gave a confused look.

There was no pain and he didn't even bleed.

"Hmm," he said with a smirk, "thought dying would be a bit more painful than that,"

The creature was as shocked as he was both figuratively, and literally, as the electricity from Cole's core flowed through his fingers and shocking the monster completely. The creature screamed as the electric energy fried him from the inside out. The body disintegrated into ash and Cole looked at his wounds. The five holes that were on him seemed to be spark with electricity. Slowly but surely they closed up and he found himself stuttering.

"I guess we're far more alike than I thought," said the sly voice of Alex Mercer

Cole found himself staring at the viral biomass. "What?"

"I am a virus that is made up of a large biomass of flesh that can change shape as well as regenerate. You, on the other hand, are like me made of electricity."

"How am I like a large mound of flesh that changes into weird crap?"

"You're not flesh, but you are electricity."

Cole shifted his gaze to his hands. His hands sparked and, as he looked closely, the sparks seemed to be coming from his own essence. "Oh, well that's convenient"

"Yea, I was looking at you and saw that your body wasn't made of anything."

"Wait, how am I even alive?"

Alex shrugged, "Well, human impulse is just a bunch of electricity anyways. You must somehow be grounded in a physical form that can shift into an electrical form." Alex stared closer at him as he continued. "I also think that you might be constantly generating electricity, have any idea why."

Cole crossed his arms as he looked towards the crater. Suddenly, he felt that his mind had a revelation. "WAIT, the RFI!"

"What?"

"Don't worry about it. It the thing I used before I got transported here. I had to charge it by putting a bunch of energy into it from me. It must have gotten fused inside me."

"Yea, you must have some sort of energetic reaction that'll fuel you forever."

"So, I'm invincible now. Sweet, Zeke would have killed to see me now."

"No, not invincible." Cole looked back at Alex confused as Alex continued. "there's a chance where you might just scatter in a billion directions as electrical energy if your form gets disrupted enough. So no, you're not invincible."

Cole shrugged, "Ah well, it's not like anyone's going to be able to do that much to me. Besides, I fell like I've gotten a major boost in my powers." Cole paused, pondering to himself, "Wait, how do you know all this?"

"I guessed it."

". . . you guessed it?"

"Yea, it does help to have a couple hundred scientists in your head."

"Come again," Cole remarked. "You have voices in your head? You sure you aren't crazy."

Alex sighed, feeling somewhat annoyed that he had to explain so much about him, "When I consume something, I take their neurological impulses along with their general body mass."

"Oh," Cole said in relief. Perhaps, this could work, "So I'm gonna assume you got something from those things we just fought."

Alex smirked, "Oh yea and you'll never believe what I got?"

Cole shook his head, he was bad with stuff like this, "Beats me. What cha' find?"

Alex's smile widened, "Well, looks like were not in Kansas anymore Toto and or anywhere else on Earth for that matter."

* * *

**Hello Everyone again**

**SORRY FOR THE REALLY LONG UPDATE**

**I'm still writing in my other stories and I had some trouble with rewriting the chapter. I didn't really like how the relationship worked so I just made a few twitches here and there.**

**Anyways thanks for reading and remember to check out my other stories as well as the forum posts.**


	3. Yoma Hunters

As the first lights from the morning sun crept over the dusty roads of the town, none could feel the imminent horror that awaited them.

Those that woke earlier had gone off and started their early routines and those that had come to at dawn were just getting ready to start off their morning.

And then they came out into the streets and found a half eaten corpse in the middle of the road.

Children were hushed back into their homes as a crowed formed around the boy's dead form. The frail body had been left the same way it was found, in a semi fetal position with his stomach ravaged.

"This is the sixth one" said a smaller man cringing from the smell of blood.

Another man couldn't help but comment, "Darn it! The last one was just three days ago."

"What'll we do? At this rate . . ."

"There's no doubt about it. A Yoma is in the village."

"If we don't do something about it, we're finished."

"We gotta tell the Chief."

The villagers were anxious and weary and soon the crowd started to move to the chief's home. The streets were now quiet now and the only person left to notice two men entering the village was the dead one that laid sprawled in his own blood.

They looked around noting that lack of commotion around the body and quietly sneaked closer to the cadaver. One of them circled around, his sharp eyes detailing the rips along the ribs.

"Look there, torn straight out from front. He never stood a chance," Alex droned almost professionally. He was unfazed by the body, but that couldn't be said for his traveling companion.

"God damn," Cole grimaced, "That's one nasty piece of work,"

"I've seen worse . . . and done worse," Alex commented, but Cole shook it off.

"Is it them?"

"Seems likely, seem like a Yoma,"

"Tastes like it too, but its a breakfast cereal"

"What?"

"Its nothing,"

* * *

**Of Lightning, Flesh, and Swords**

Chapter 2: Yoma Hunters

* * *

Inside the main living room of the chief's humble home, a crowd -composed mostly of men- looked down at the sitting old chief. Their shouts were starting to hit him harder and harder.

"What'll we do chief? That's the sixth one!"

"If we just sit here and wait, We'll all be butchered!"

"They eat your guts while you're still alive!"

A sudden thump silenced the crowd as a young man slammed his hand on the table and snapped back at them.

"So what are we supposed to do?! Once they take human form, it's practically impossible for us to spot them! Are you saying we should just round up suspicious looking characters!?"

The crowd was just about to fire back when chief's calm voice took them by storm.

"Calm down Zaki," the chief said with a calming chilled tone.

"But chief . . ."

Zaki stopped as he noticed the chief placing a letter on the table. The crowd looked at it questioningly, following Zaki's que.

"We received a reply to our letter," the chief finally said, "It seems they're sending one to our village, A claymore,"

The culmination of gasps and whispers echoed through the crowd as they heard this.

"A . . . A Claymore?"

"Are you serious?"

"You want to hire one of them?"

The chief cleared his throat, holding the crowd at bay once again.

"Yes, we have no choice, they are the only ones who can detect a monster in Human Form. Don't argue with me. I know it will cost us a great deal, but the way things are, the fate of the village is at stake. The sooner we act the better,"

No one from the crowd stirred, the air itself seemed to suffocate everyone. One by one, they all cleared out, not taking an effort to argue with the chief for what had been done was already finished. The claymore would come to their village whether they liked it or not.

"A claymore, eh?"

"They give me the creeps"

"Have you ever seen one?"

"Yeah, once"

As the crowd left the room, those that had been inside failed to notice the two strange individuals next to the door. Once the men and women trickled out into the street and carried on with their lives, both Alex's hooded form and Cole's muscled figure went in, closing the door behind them.

Even once the door clicked closed, the old man didn't even take the time to look up as he was busy trying to book keep for the village's financial future. Hiring a Claymore took a lot from their budget. Granted, while the cut wasn't impossible to work with, it still would hit the village hard. Some would probably have to starve later in the year to save up for the winter.

On that note, the chief moved his gaze out the window. He had seen a bright blue star last night and – hopefully- it was a sign for a change to come. When he moved his gaze to the door, he fell back in his chair, finally recognizing Alex and Cole's presence in his home.

"Gah, I'm sorry for not noticing you two," he said as he pulled himself up.

Cole gave a small smirk as he saw the man's reaction, "Sorry bout that, didn't mean to scare ya."

The old man finally sat back down, pushing his chair forward, "Is there something you two need?"

"Yup, name's Cole Macgrath and the walking ball of sunshine over here is Alex Mercer and we'd like to talk about a little problem you got around here,"

The chief raised an eyebrow, "I'm not sure I follow,"

"The Yoma problem, we're thinking of getting rid of it," Alex mentioned and the old chief stared wide eyed at the two.

"W-what?" he sputtered barely keeping himself still, "Are you from the Organization?"

Cole paused turning his head to Alex who only shrugged in return, "Uh, don't know what you're talkin' about but I think we can get the job done since we're here."

The old man looked at the two, unsure if he was hearing correctly, "So your saying . . . you can kill . . . hunt Yoma,"

"Absolutely," Cole responded.

"How will I be sure you're not just lying. I'm already in enough trying to hire a Claymore."

The name looked to be unfamiliar to both Cole and Alex, but they didn't press the subject, "We'll bring a body and if we fail, well, we'll be dead."

The man slowly blinked still weary, ". . . What are your terms?"

That was Alex's queue to speak, "You give us a room for the night answer some questions for us and the Yoma's gonna be dead before nightfall."

The chief paused, those were very inexpensive terms compared to hiring a Claymore and, now that he thought about it, the Claymore could come to clean up if they failed. If they did succeed, his village would only have to pay the conditional fee for wasting the Claymore's time.

What did he have to lose?

With several nods that grew ever stronger, the chief slowly brought himself out of his chair, "Then you two have got yourselves a deal"

* * *

Upon entering their designated room, Cole leapt onto the bed stretching aching limbs.

"You know Mercer, I still can't believe we're stuck in a backwater place like this."

Alex nodded, prompting the conduit to continue, "I'm kinda surprised we ain't seeing Elves or Orcs, you know."

"Yea, sorta weird. Its straight outta fantasy," Mercer responded sitting down in a chair, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around what I got from that Yoma,"

"Anything new then?"

The virus leaned back, "A bit, you know how that guy mentioned something about Claymores?"

"Uh-huh,"

"Anyways, apparently these Yoma guys can absolutely dominate humans in every way. They got speed, strength, agility, regeneration, and the ability to eat people and take their appearance as well as take their memories. You could say that their built to hunt humans."

"Reminds me of someone I know."

Alex rolled his eyes and continued, "In order for humans to fight back, a group of guys called the 'Organization' created female warriors that could combat them by somehow splicing Yoma DNA into their bodies."

"So you're saying that we're in a world within a medieval time period with monster hunting women," Cole shrugged a bit. "I guess it could be worse,"

Alex silently twiddled his thumbs, "You really think we should be doing this? Putting ourselves in the open like this?"

"Well, the way I see it, if we help enough people, maybe we'll find a way back home,"

"I'm doubt anyone's gonna have a nuke or RFI waiting for us in a medieval setting like this Macgrath."

Cole looked off to the side before snapping his fingers, "That Claymore Organization's got biological engineering, what about them?"

He shook his head, "Any well organized private military is just bad news. Not to mention, they have a monopoly on Yoma hunting."

"And that's where we come in,"

"Our first priority should be finding a way off this rock and getting home, not helping people,"

"If its that irritating for you then I seriously suggest finding that you find your own way and stay outta my face then, got it."

That forced even the viral bioweapon the close his mouth. Cole and Alex's relationship was certainly one that had constantly been on edge as soon as they met. They were lone wolves, men with powers that transcended them into absolute powerhouses of destruction. Both knew what they wanted and they usually got what they wanted.

But Alex backed down. He stood back up walking towards the window still irritated with Cole's overbearing positive attitude. It sickened him to see someone like that. The infected zone in NYC was a bloodbath and only the strong survived. Kill or be killed he said, but, then again, this wasn't NYC or even Earth for that matter.

This was a new environment and he was with a new type of person, one that could be an excellent asset in the future, or a powerful enemy. Granted, Cole didn't seem to be the type to hold grudges or be "evil" or fight him for no reason, but Alex had already put too much faith in people he didn't know.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," Alex whispered as he down at the dirt ridden streets.

Alex was going to watch Cole and, hopefully, make sure the conduit wasn't an enemy. If he was – well he had plenty methods of disposal.

Literally at his fingertips

Cole looked at the hooded man, watching the figure gaze out in a hypnotic trance. Cole didn't like Alex and it was more than just a gut feeling. They both knew that they had widely different methods. Cole shocked people into submission and Alex – *gulp* - literally ate who he didn't like.

As much as he wanted to get rid of Alex, Cole knew that the hooded man was a loose cannon and hard born killer. If he was just left to his own devices, there would be a lot of blood lying around with all the stains left with no traces of a dead corpse.

And of course, both men didn't want to admit it, but they knew that they needed one another to leave. Even if Cole found the technology to get him back home, he doubted that he'd be able to work anything overly complex. Alex was a walking encyclopedia with the minds of almost a hundred scientists. He could work the machine or, heck, maybe even make something.

For Alex, if he got the tech he needed, he'd need a power source. Last he checked, the amount of energy used to transport him was either the amount produced by an RFI or a nuclear explosion, either way, he wouldn't be able to produce as much energy on sticks, stones, and whatever material that the medieval age had. Cole was fused with his energy source, the RFI. All Alex needed to do was get Cole's energy, contain it, and it would be a win-win situation.

"Man," Cole said finally breaking the long silence, "this is comfy for some medieval cot, ya know,"

Alex turned leaning on the window sill, "I'd be surprised if they didn't give us the best. We are killing demonic flesh eating monsters for them,"

Cole shrugged, "Yea, yea. I guess. Man, Zeke would have loved a gig like this,"

"Zeke?"

"He's a friend a mine, close friend. Been through a lot of ups and downs with him and I don't know where I'd be without him." Cole paused as he looked up towards the wooden ceiling. He had a distant stare and calm face.

"Must be nice to know you got someone waiting for you back home,"

"What about you. Got someone you care about?"

". . . Maybe," the words barely seeped through his mouth.

"Nothing to be ashamed of Mercer, we all got people we care about, people we miss,"

It was at that moment when the two men gave themselves to their memories, the images of the past washing over them and glazing their sight.

Alex didn't know what to feel about Dana, but his inner soul missed her. Perhaps it was instinctual or behavioral or parental conditioning. All he remembered was losing Dana and finding her unconscious. The emptyness he felt as he gave her near lifeless body to Dr. Ragland hit him where bullets and missiles could never touch, but what could he do. And now, all he could do was just question to himself over and over again.

Was she alive? Did she know where he was? Would she ever try to find him?

And cry, thinking that he had died?

Cole on the other hand, couldn't help but think of everyone back at New Marais.

Had the RFI succeeded?

Was the plague gone?

Would his friend be safe?

All these questions and more would have to be answered later, however, as soon the open window pulled in the commotion from the crowd that had formed in front of the gate. The two super beings rushed up to look out the window, and would soon wish they hadn't.

* * *

**Hello Everyone**

**Thanks for reading**

**as you can tell, there are some significant changes.**

**You might be asking why I'm making Cole and Alex less thoughtful to a subtle approach. Well the thing is that Cole and Alex, in the two games they've been in, have pretty much shown nothing else other than a largely unsubtle approach. They're actions have always been extravagant and they rarely take the time to hide their face (except maybe Alex on certain missions).**

**Anyways, keep reading and I'll cya guys next week.**


	4. Rooftop Flight

**I have returned from the void in which I slept**

**From my time I have tasted the bitter fruit of the worlds created from such days**

**They make such pitiful creations, ones that enrage my soul**

**So this marks the return of the Apocalyptian Scribe**

* * *

They saw a beautiful wispy woman about five and a half feet tall stride into the town. She had a pageboy haircut and wore armor on her shoulders, waist, wrists, and feet. Her strides were powerful and experience exuded from her very being. The most noticeable trait, however, was the large sword that she carried, fully establishing her status as a Claymore, a warrior of the organization.

The appearance of the Claymore was somewhat shocking to the townsfolk. Most had expected a malformed monster that took orders like a drone, but instead they saw a beautiful figure dressed in light medieval armor and elegant in stature. Despite this, the crowd still whispered staring at the Claymore like they had seen a ghost.

"Look her eyes are silver"

"Yea, why do you think they're called silver eyed witches?"

"I really just hope that she doesn't go after us"

"Well, she does have some Yoma in her"

She shook her head at this notion for this was a common occurrence. Fear for the organization's warriors were merely rooted in a prejudice, though justified prejudice when considering their history. They feared what they could not understand and only knew that they were monsters in it of themselves.

As she strode in closer, the crowd parted like the red sea, fearing her presence as if her skin radiated a poison. Again, she shrugged off the nervous whispers and anxious gazes and continued forward. Everything was going as normal for the Claymore except for one thing.

There was a nagging presence of being watched.

She stopped, a gasp breaking through the crowd as she spun her head to shoot her gaze towards an open window. There was no one -no- there was someone, just far faster than any human reaction possible. She stuck a mental note in her head as she walked off and continued towards the village leader's abode.

At the very window that she looked at, Alex was breathing heavily leaning right next to the opening. He had pushed the Conduit away from the window, for felt a chill enter him.

"Shit," the virus said, "who the hell is she?"

* * *

**Of Lightning, Flesh, and Swords**

Chapter 3: Rooftop Flight

* * *

Inside the office of the town's Chief, an older man sat in his chair. The many wrinkles and ripples on his face presented his age and the sweat that had appeared on said wrinkles glistened. His face turned into a nervous smile as he came face to face with the claymore. Her eyes were cold as the silvery snow in her eyes.

The rumors were true indeed.

Her presence, despite his earlier alert, had shocked him. The response from the organization had barely come this morning and he had expected at least a fortnight to pass before she appeared. Now she stood within the confines of his home giving him a chilling glare that almost seemed to know what he had done.

"Uhhm, here's the payment for your services," The old man stuttered barely containing his fear. "Please, you can check it's all there."

The cold gaze of the claymore moved, he felt it cutting through his body.

"No,"

The old man went wide eyed. Did she know of his treachery? Would she deny the village of her services? Luckily, both options was not the case as the Claymore continued to speak in the same cold tone as before.

"Once the job is complete, a representative will come by and collect it. I can't accept payment myself"

The chief found himself barely able to stand as he spoke. "O-Ok. Whatever you say."

Surprisingly the Claymore started to elaborate, to the chief's horror. "It means if I fail you and die in the process, you are not obligated to pay anything."

Her words shook him. Perhaps, it was foolish to get help from the two strangers. If one so close built to fight Yoma was so accepting of her own death, what chance would they have. He might as well have sent them to their deaths

It shook him to the core.

"Um, miss?" He uttered. His fear almost got the best of him as he tried to speak, "There is one other detail that has recently come up."

"And that is?" The claymore questioned still showing no signs emotion.

"I . . . I may have hired two men to kill the Yoma"

The Claymore started to turn as the chief stood still waiting for a response. The claymore stopped, however, and spoke in a questioning tone. "What did they ask for?"

"A room in a local Inn and dinner. They promised me that they would finish by the day, but I don't know if-"

"If they have died, then that is the least of my concerns," she said continuing towards the door, "that or they've swindled you for a place to stay for the night,"

He nodded his head, "I . . . suppose,"

"If they did, however, do what they promised, I doubt they shall survive their first encounter and I would advise you not to do such a thing in the future again."

As soon as she left the door, the chief fell to his knees as his wife came to his aid.

"My god that was my first Claymore," He muttered, he could barely continue speaking as he felt his life lose a couple years. "I was expecting her to be more human but . . . but she . . . was . . . just like a monster."

* * *

Behind the dark back alleyways of the town, the duo found themselves giving bitter stares at each other as the two men argued back and forth about the Claymore.

In some sense, they could feel for the woman. Who else offered to kill creatures of death for the rest of their lives and gain no sympathy for their roles? It reminded Cole of his time in New Marias whenever he spotted a group of civilians demonizing him. It reminded Alex of his entire experience in the NYZ where, despite his attempts in curing the virus, the public feared him and the military attacked him in every possible way.

However, the morning had instantly soured Alex's attitude towards the Claymore and he simply refused to go near the woman.

"I'm telling you, something's just off about her,"

"Right and we're absolutely normal,"

"No, you don't understand, she's . . . something else,"

"She'll help us find them and we'll just help her kill them. Side's, don't you wanna see one of those ladies in action,"

"No," Alex said in a stern voice, "I'd really prefer it if I just go hunting for the things myself before we talk to her,"

Cole gave mischievous sneer, "Yeesh Mercer, you were jumpy. What's the real reason buddy? Got some blood goin' down under?"

Alex scowled, "Be serious Macgrath, she's a biological super soldier built to kill monsters. She's bound to have something wrong with her mind,"

Cole opened his mouth to say something, but refrained from speaking. It would have been somewhat rude to comment further seeing how Alex wasn't very fond of his origins.

"If yuh want, we could just split up,"

Alex shrugged, "Could work, just don't give too much away. If she asks why we're helping, just say we have experience with hunting Yoma,"

"Sounds good." Cole said waving off his travel companion to which Alex took his chance and doubled back to the crime scene.

Cole shook his head, wondering what could have gone through the virus' mind before starting up towards a wall to get to higher ground. Perhaps Alex did have a point, though. He, like Alex, had no idea what Claymores were like . . . maybe it was best to side on the air of caution. Then again . . .

"Meh," Cole said as he eyed another foothold, "Besides, what's the worst that could happen,"

Once he made it up to the top, Cole stretched in anticipation. The familiar feeling of rough stones was comforting and the medieval techniques used to make the walls made them uneven with some sticking out. It was almost like an adventure just finding the little nooks and crannies that he could use.

He jumped up and down several times, making sure that each time he pressed his foot against the tiled rooftops to feel the texture below him. Smooth yet sturdy enough to hold him; that put a smile on his face. With that knowledge in place, he took a running head start towards the edge and leaped to the other side.

As his body reached the other side, he pulled himself into a roll to keep his momentum and pushed towards the other side. Small bumps and pillars in the roof kept the run interesting, forcing him to weave and jump around the obstacles set in front of him. Again, another roof was cleared and the conduit jumped up to the next roof.

Cole gave a smirk as he cleared roof after roof and conquered the medieval terrain around him. To be fair, it had been a while since he had done something like this. For the last three months, every time he had been on a rooftop running was either because he was being shot at or he was chasing someone that would turn to shoot at him. Granted, he was appreciative of the newer tricks he had received with his powers like the ability to grind on power-lines, float long distances, or just the plain old ice jump. Those just added a whole new level of excitement that gave thrills he had never felt in the first place.

That said though, it was still nice to have the roofs to himself. It was certainly the most nostalgic thing he had before everything.

Before the Blast and the chaos that came with it.

Cole felt something jerk at him a little. While the chaotic three months had worn him down, it did sort of help dull some of the things that had gone on. He caused a plague that could have wiped out all life on Earth, he nearly caused an arms race of conduits to completely over take the planet, and he changed the lives of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of lives all because his future self needed him to fight.

And now that the dust had settled, those powers he just been thinking about seemed more bittersweet than anything else.

Cole shook his head, looking left and right, trying to find the landmark designating the middle of the town. Once it was in his sights, he bolted towards the roof but skidded to a stop upon reaching the edge of the roof.

"Whoa," he said noting the distance. It wasn't that far, especially with his thrusters and his ice jump, but the busy streets below would have seen him in a heartbeat. If he wanted to go fast enough over with the thrusters, he would have needed to have been on a power-line for momentum. But there were no power-lines or even electricity to boost himself. He'd have to drop down and walk to the building and then climb back up.

Or . . .

Cole hopped in place and stopped to stretch his legs. He pulled his foot backwards, letting the heel of his right and left foot touch the back of his leg. A few more seconds passed as he gave a few more hops, jumping from one foot to the other in preparation.

He turned away from the edge and walked several steps. Finally, after the getting a feel again for the roof under him, he bolted straight for the landmark and jumped at the last instance with his foot pushing off of the cornered edge.

He had some good air; great air in fact. From that jump alone, he was crossing at least a 30 feet gap and it surprised him even further when he found himself going higher and higher. In fact, he nearly flew straight over his intended roof, landing into a roll and nearly pulling over to the other side of the roof. Cole looked up as laid there with his back towards the ground.

"Well that's nice," Cole said both relieved and shocked how much stronger physically he had become. In the earlier battle with the Yoma, Cole almost felt light and free, allowing him to dodge and weave around the Yoma easily without a care. He wasn't just stronger power-wise, he was physically stronger as well.

Before Cole could further ponder on his new found strength, he stood up neither caring nor bothering to think about his newer abilities. Most of the time, others usually did the scientific observations, not him. Alex would probably know what was happening.

Thus his attention turned to the somewhat taller building that situated itself in the general middle of the town. He jumped, using his stronger legs to get an early boost, and climbed straight to the top with no fatigue what so ever.

"Hmm," Cole said quickly reaching the top without even breaking a sweat, "easier than I thought."

Indeed, even looking back, he didn't even breathe heavy from fighting a 2 on 1 battle against a super powered demon. It seemed like as if he was going to have to have quite a lot of questions by the end of the day.

His mind focused yet again as he stood atop the flat roof the tall building. Preparing himself, Cole finally sent out a pulse of electricity, in an attempt to look for the Yoma's or at least the Claymore's presence. However, something else seemed to come back and stopped him in his tracks.

As the pulse came back he could feel a presence behind him and moving towards him at high speeds.

With the intent to kill

A quick turn to the side barely gave him enough time to dodge a silver sword that threatened to cut him in half. However, once that occurred, his reflexes forced him to move more and more as the cold and calculated assault continued to hack away at him. By the fifth swing of the sword, Cole finally managed to pull out his tuning fork shaped Amp out in front of him and parry an attack only for another slash to make its mark on his arm. A pair of golden eyes stared back at him as his combatant moved back.

"Holy shit," Cole exclaimed looking at the Claymore, "The hell was that for,"

She calmly shifted her weight, easily holding up the heavy blade that most men would barely be able to carry.

"You've got the scent of a Yoma and your reflexes aren't human," Her voice, while not slimy and disgusting like Sasha's or as dark and gritty as Kesslar's, was as close to a chilling growl as the human voice could get. It was emotionless, lifeless, and filled with hatred.

"I could say the same for you," Cole said keeping his amp up defensively. He wasn't going to let her get the jump on him again.

"It's pointless to hide now, just reveal yourself,"

Cole smirked, "Sorry, I don't take off my pants for just any woman you know,"

Upon hearing that, the blond haired warrior scowled at Cole, pushing herself forward and swinging her sword down.

Cole jumped back, noting the distance from the edge and smashing his amp up to meet her sword when the next strike came. She followed it up with an onslaught of slashes and Cole tried dodging most of the blows and parrying only one or two hits.

By the fifth cut, Cole was starting to see that the title of super soldier wasn't just a misnomer. He could barely keep up with the Claymore's movements and her combat training was nothing to laugh at. Once another swing at his head came, he dashed backwards putting himself right on the edge of the roof.

"Shit," finally noticing his position, "Guess dating's out of the question?"

The Claymore looked at him more annoyed than confused, "You talk too much,"

Cole rolled his eyes and muttered, "Yea, I already got a guy that tells me that."

She continued forward and sent a wide slash to his chest. He pulled the amp up just in time, only to find the momentum of the sword pushing him off the building, all the way into the crowded street below.

"Holy –!"

His voice, luckily, made it into the ears of the hapless villagers below him and ran immediately out of his way. As he made it to the ground, his rolling figure crashed into a wooden stall and knocked the numerous vegetable out of their boxes.

"Ugh," Cole plucked the cabbage leaf off of his head, "Least I'm not dead,"

"That can be arranged,"

The familiar sword of the Claymore came down on him, threatening to split him in two, but before it did so, Cole instinctively grabbed the blade in between his hands. Both put a struggle to overpower the other, but the blade did not budge an inch.

"I don't suppose I can just say sorry?"

She growled even more furiously, veins popping out from her forehead, "Shut . . . up"

Before anything could be done, a loud crash drew the two combatant's attention away from each other and to a cloud of dusty smoke. At first, nothing seemed to stir but suddenly, the disheveled figure of a teen stumbled out, his face filled with a look of despair.

"Please you have to help me!" he said pointing behind him, "Some monster is chasing me!"

A gruff voice responded, "Shut the fuck up you god damn rat."

Another figure's form came out, instantly recognized by Cole. It was Alex with his ever present scowl and hood, though this time he seemed far more annoyed than the last Cole had seen him.

The Claymore, like the many citizens standing around watching Cole's initial fall, gave Alex and the man both a look of sheer confusion. Alex returned that same look to both her and Cole. He specifically gave the conduit a snide grin.

"Told you,"

Cole rolled his eyes, "It's just a misunderstanding,"

"Looks more like she's ready to slice you in two,"

It was at this point, the Claymore had pull her blade away from Cole, much to his relief, and aimed it instead towards Alex, which then caused Cole alarm.

"What's going on?" she demanded causing the virus to give an annoyed look.

"I just did your job, woman. That kid's a Yoma and you can check it for yourself,"

Still skeptical, she turned to face the boy still within a state of shock. His eyes spelled fear as she stared into them and soon almost hypnotically, the boy never noticed the Claymore place her hands on the boy's face. She pulled him in closer and for a second, she remained still and unmoving.

But she simply let him go and at that, the boy fell to the ground.

"He is not a Yoma,"

Alex's eyes widened, "What? He smells just like them."

"Smell does not identify a yoma fully," as she said this, the boy stood to walk away but she stopped him in his tracks, "however, you may not leave yet."

The boy did as he was told, Alex and Cole giving the Claymore looks as she forced him to sit down. When she turned, the same unemotional visage they had seen early that day.

"So then," she said coldly, "You two are the 'Yoma Hunters' the village leader was talking about."

Cole gave a look to Alex, but the virus failed to respond, ". . . uh," Cole rubbed the back of his head, "Yea?"

The claymore sighed.

"I'm also assuming that you're willing to help?"

Cole smiled, "Hell yea, when do we-"

She raised her hand to stop Cole from continuing and he followed the warrior's unspoken command.

"Judging by your . . . abilities, I suppose you can be an asset," she pointed to the boy, "That smell, while it may not truly identify a Yoma, it does tell us that he's been in frequent contact with one."

Alex still glared at her, staying as the unmoving statue of a paranoid monster staring down a different creature of sorts. Cole stepped in for the virus.

"Ok then, let's get this show on the road,"

If there was any confusion within the Claymore, she did not show anything at that moment. She sheathed her sword and nodded.

"Once we are done," She turned her head, drilling daggers into Cole's eyes with her own silver orbs, "we're all going to have a talk,"

For a moment, Cole looked at the Claymore's eyes unfazed by the woman's gaze. But a second later, he smiled back in confidence.

"Gladly,"

* * *

**HOLY FUCK FINALLY ITS OUT**

**Sorry for the wait, I literally got my computer reset completely and I had to rewrite the entire third chapter.**

**OH WELL, ITS FINALLY OUT.**

**As you guys can tell, I have sort of revamped the story and set it in a clearer direction than before. This is because I've gotten somewhat better at writing and understanding plot development. I want the story to include Claire from the beginning so that we can see the build up with Cole and Claire.**

**I also never got to build up the hidden enemy the first time around so, as you can tell, I'm doing plenty of that to hype up the eventual battles that will come.**

**Also, I finally got rid of that FUCKING "LET'S BE HERO" talk. Dear GOD that was cheesy as fuck. I really did not know what to do to get the together properly. Now that I have a reason for them to stick together without going OC on them, I can finally show a proper Alex and Cole while still showing them grow together as a team.**

**Anyways PLEASE REVIEW**

**BY THE WAY**

**THE POLL FINALLY ENDED AND THE PAIRING FOR ALEX IS**

***drumroll***

**Luciela**

**Because of this, I will change up some of what Luciela's personality was made up to be. I'll keep the core focus, but I think the changes will help make things 1. More natural and 2. Less awkward.**


End file.
